2 Afghan children killed in NATO airstrike in Ghazni province

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Two Afghan children were killed and seven civilians were wounded in a NATO airstrike earlier Saturday in the eastern province of Ghazni, which also claimed the lives of 12 Taliban insurgents, authorities said.

"The helicopters with the NATO-led coalition forces launched an attack against Taliban position along a road in Espand-de area outside provincial capital Ghazni city this morning," Deputy Provincial Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi told Xinhua.

But the bombing also claimed the lives of two children and wounded seven others aboard two vehicles parked near the site, besides killing several insurgents, he said without providing more details.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Feb. 19 issued an order banning local security forces from calling coalition's warplanes to carry out airstrike after a coalition airstrike called in by local forces killed 10 civilians including five children in eastern Kunar province early last month.

The deaths of Afghan civilians in NATO-led troops' operations against Taliban have long been a contentious issue between the Afghan government and U.S. and NATO forces in the country.

"(Saturday) in the morning the ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) and Coalition Forces conducted a successful attack on a group of armed Taliban extremists in Espand-de village in eastern Ghazni city," said a statement issued by coalition here earlier in the day. It said no civilian was killed in the operation.

It said the insurgents were preparing to attack the ANSF, adding the coalition conducted an airstrike killing 12 terrorists.

Earlier Saturday, a provincial health official, Baz Mohammad Himat, told Xinhua that eight civilians including three women and a child were wounded in the air raid in the province 100 km south of capital Kabul.

The war-hit Afghanistan has been seeing Taliban-led attacks over the past couple of weeks as spring and summer known as fighting season is drawing near.